THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS 



Vol. 3 APRIL, 1907 No. 4 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



EDITED BY PROFESSOR W. LOCHHEAD 



Macdonald College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec 



[All communications concerning this department should be sent to Professor 

 Lochhead at the address given above.] 



NATURE STUDY DEVELOPMENT IN ONTARIO 



In the year 1900, when the author first became superintendent 

 of the public schools in St. Thomas. Ontario, nature-study, though 

 common enough in Manitoba and in Nova Scotia, as well as in many 

 of the States of the Union, was just beginning to arouse curiosity 

 among Ontario teachers and educators. Circumstances in St. Thomas 

 forced the subject rapidly to the front, and its development was 

 directed almost entirely by local conditions and may, therefore, be 

 considered natural. In September of 1900, a course of nature-study 

 was outlined for the St. Thomas schools, very much as it appeared 

 in Morang's "Modern Nature-Study" in 1902, so that this outline 

 of work preceded the regulations of the Education Department by four 

 years. 



Nature-study was thought of first as a substitute for object lessons, 

 which, though occupying a place on the outline of work for the pub- 

 lic schools, were not used by more than one teacher out of forty on 

 the staff. Object lessons as we all know appealed to the senses of 

 the pupils, chiefly to the eye, but were usually associated with such 

 subjects as cork, glass, rubber, etc., the products of foreign countries 

 or of factories beyond the observation of the teacher and pupils. It 

 was a natural step to substitute the living plants and animals of the 

 immediate vicinity for these lifeless products of a far away commun- 

 ity. Suffice it to say that nature-study was substituted for object 

 lessons. 



